Church of St. John the Baptist at Sutatausa: Indoctrination and Resistance
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Church of St. John the Baptist at Sutatausa: Indoctrination and Resistance by Yessica Porras Honors faculty adviser: Professor Todd Olson Second reader: Lisa Trever Undergraduate Honors Thesis for the Department of History of Art University of California, Berkeley 2014 AFFIRMATION OF INDEPENDENT WORK This thesis represents my own work in accordance with University regulations. __________________________________________________________________ Porras i Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Architectural Setting of the Church of Sutatausa ........................................................................................ 5 Passion of Christ ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 The Last Judgment Mural Scene ...................................................................................................................... 10 Donor Portraits ....................................................................................................................................................... 14 Cacique Portraits ............................................................................................................................................... 15 The Cacica ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 The Manta: Importance of Textiles in the Muisca Culture ................................................................... 22 Overlap and Concealment ................................................................................................................................. 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Endnotes .................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................................... 40 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................ 43 List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................................................. 47 Illustrations .............................................................................................................................................................. 48 Porras ii Acknowledgments I want to thank professor Todd Olson for his unconditional support through out this process. Without his suggestions and patience this project would have not been possible. I also want to thank professor Lisa Trever for her encouragement, and new perspectives that enriched my writing process. Finally, I want to recognize my husband for believing on me since the beginning of this journey. Porras 1 Introduction. In 1994 a group of murals was found behind layers of plaster, on the white adobe interior walls of the church of St. John the Baptist in the town of Sutatausa, Cundinamarca, Colombia (Figure 1). These murals reveal the complex relationship between the Spanish and the local Muisca populations and the Spanish in early colonial times. Besides having a religious message, the murals of Sutatausa have a direct connection with Muisca visual culture. When I visited the church of Sutatausa I was struck by the rare overlapping of the figures. There were two different mural programs that at first appeared to be a continuation of the Christian imagery, but after careful observation I found they had conflicting purposes. One focused on the Passion of Christ, and the other on an incorporation of Muisca motifs embedded on portraits of the indigenous cacique elites. This conflict became further evident when I visited the cemetery of Sutatausa. In the middle of the cemetery a large rock stands with a statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of it. Over the smooth surface of the rock a series of red textile patterns are delineated (petroglyphs) (Figure 2). The juxtaposition of the statue and the textile patterns is comparable to the contradictions found at the church of Sutatausa. Moreover elements found on the textile patterns such as the overlap of the designs, and the use of the negative space are similar to the composition used on the Muisca figures in the church. The methods in which the designs are placed in the petroglyphs create a visual effect of over-pasted figures and defacement. Therefore there is an intentional disruption of the murals that shows a complex relationship between the Spanish indoctrination program and the Muisca population. Porras 2 In this paper I intend to analyze the connections of the murals found at the church of Sutatausa in correlation with pre-conquest Muisca petroglyphs found in the surrounding area of Sutatausa. By examining elements of the church such as its architecture and mural programs, in conjunction with the petroglyphs, I will demonstrate that the church of Sutatausa was not just an instrument of indoctrination, but also incorporated Muisca cultural concepts. The Muisca elements found at the church can be seen as resistance to complete acculturation. Instead of maintaining their culture in clandestine practices, the murals show their adaptation to accepted Christian symbolism with embedded Muisca cultural features. The designs of the murals have a mix between Catholic imagery and a Muisca presence that created a unique colonial visual language full of tension derived from each group’s intentions. Before proceeding into a complete analysis we should determine who were the Muisca. In the sixteenth century when the Spaniards arrived in the Cundiboyacense Colombian highlands located in the Eastern Cordillera, they found a hierarchical society, with a large population living in villages, scattered on the hillsides and valleys. The Muisca were organized into chiefdoms formed by several communities under the leadership of chiefs known as caciques.1 The Muisca began to organize in sedentary groups in 800BCE.2 The population grew due to the improvement of agricultural practices, which transformed small villages into centralized states. 3 The Muisca did not develop any monumental architectural or artistic works. Instead their efforts were put into the manufacture of ephemeral objects such as textiles and wood architecture. 4 The nonexistence of monumental works of the Muisca contributed to diverse interpretations of the Muisca Porras 3 civilization. The church of Sutatausa provides us with material to study the transition of the Muisca power in the colonial period. The church’s architectural structure and the murals indicate a complex relationship of resistance and adaptation of the local indigenous population towards Spanish proselytization. Studies made of the church usually separate the architectural features from the murals from Muisca cultural expressions. An example of the disjunction can be found in the studies of conservator Rodolfo Vallín who wrote about the murals and the temple architecture. Vallín described the church as a continuation of proselytizing churches found in Mexico, but did not incorporate the Colombian context.5 The result of the disconnection between the murals, the architecture, and the petroglyphs creates a negation of the active participation of the Muisca elite (caciques) of Sutatausa in the development and construction of the church. When the religious murals are studied in isolation interpretations focus on the indoctrinating aspects of the images. The caciques became a representation of complete acculturation. This approach disregards that caciques commissioned part of the murals; they had control over the message embedded in the murals. They also incorporated textile patterns found imprinted on petroglyphs near the area. The inclusion of Muisca elements conflicted with the Spanish indoctrinating program. The murals provide proof of the active role Muisca caciques (elite) had in the 16th and 17th centuries.6 The colonial period presents us with a series of challenges, where the Spanish intend to assimilate the native population into Catholicism, while the Muisca are in a process of adaptation and cultural uncertainty. There was an active rejection of the Spanish by the indigenous people, who were famous in historical accounts for their collective suicides; they preferred to take their own lives rather than submit to Spanish Porras 4 power. 7 There was a deposition against Juan Árevalo de Montalvo, one of the first encomenderos (colonist granted control of land and Indians to work for him) in the area near Sutatausa, about his participation on the death of about three to four thousand people from the towns of Suta and Tausa (1549). The witness Jerónimo Lebrón declared that the Muisca rebelled against the Spanish in the area, and that Juan Árevalo de Montalvo was sent to appease them. He went to a large rock where they were gathered, ordered his men to kill them all and throw their bodies down into the gorge.8 There are different accounts of the deaths